olmo

Forms

olmo m (plural olmi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ŭlmus (“elm”).^[2][3][4][1] The word is pan-Romance: French orme, Occitan olme, Catalan om, Spanish olmo, Portuguese olmo, Sardinian ùlumu and Romanian ulm.^[3][5] A variant ormo is common in the dialects of both northern and southern Italy and matches the French form.^[6] Meyer-Lübke derives the ⟨r⟩ of French from the derivative Old French ormel.^[5]

Latin ulmus has close matches in Celtic and Germanic: Old Irish lem, Old English elm, Old Norse almr and Old High German elmboum.^[2][3][7] The German word Ulme was borrowed from Latin.^[3][7] Battisti and Alessio hold that Old High German ulmboum and the Old English forms in ⟨u⟩ are medieval loans from Latin too.^[6] Wiktionary traces the Latin word through Proto-Italic *olmos to Proto-Indo-European *h₁élem (“mountain elm”).^[1] De Vaan accepts the development from Proto-Italic *elmos to *olmos, but the limited spread of the word (Italic, Celtic, Germanic and Slavic) and the difficulty of reconstructing one Proto-Indo-European form make him suspect a non-Indo-European origin.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine document of 1286–1290, in an entry of 1288; the sense is the tall tree with a broad crown and very hard wood.^[8] DELI dates the word from Domenico Cavalca, before 1342.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used olmo for the wood, worked by joiners and carpenters.^[8] The elm was the traditional support of the vine, and maritare la vite all'olmo, “to marry the vine to the elm”, names that practice.^[9][4][10] It was also the tree of the village square: in Boccaccio's Decameron a country priest edifies his parishioners on Sundays at the foot of the elm.^[11]

In the drinking game of passatella the player who is left without a drink is the olmo, perhaps because the elm holds up the vine without enjoying the grapes; from this, andare olmo came to mean “to be fooled”.^[4][12] Learned derivatives followed: olmeto “elm grove”, from Late Latin ulmetum, in the 14th century, olmaria “meadowsweet” in 1970, named for its leaves, and ulmacea in the 20th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1288 – Olmo appears in a Florentine document.^[8]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses the word.^[2]
• 14th century – Olmeto “elm grove” is recorded.^[3]
• 1970 – Olmaria “meadowsweet” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) elm, a tall tree of the genus Ulmus with a broad, dense crown and toothed leaves, especially the field elm (Ulmus minor), planted along avenues and formerly as a support for vines.^{[4][9][12][1]}
2. Elm wood, used in furniture, cabinet-making and shipbuilding: un tavolo di olmo.^[4][9][12]
3. In the game of passatella, the player left without a drink: restare olmo.^[4][12]
4. (figurative) andare olmo: to be fooled, tricked.^[4][12]

Word family

• olmaria
• olmeto
• ulmacea
• olmaia
• olmata

Related words

• ormo
• Latin ulmus
• English elm

Usage notes

An unrelated olmo occurs in the old phrase tela d'olmo, a kind of linen cloth first made at Ulm in Germany, whose name it adapts.^[13] Old Italian also wrote ulmo and ulmu.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2641
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 708
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 882